Apparatus for curing freshly-cut crops.



,A. J. MASON.

APPARATUS FOR CURING FRESHLY CUT CROPS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 24. 1914 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

J'zwzzfar:

Patented July 25,

IFQ'I I III I R v mm- H A. J. MASON. APPARATUS FOR CURING FRESHLY CUT CROPS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 24,1914- Patented July 25, 1916.

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or cured in the open air.

ARTHUR J. MASON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR CURING FBESHLY-CUT CROPS.

Specification of Letters l'atent.

Patented July 25, 1916.

Application filed October 24, 1914. Serial No. 868,505.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. MASON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements inv Apparatus for Curing Freshly-Cut Crops, of which the following is a specification.

The main object of my invention is to remove the present lossto hay and grain crops resulting from the fact that they are dried These enormous lossesvof the material itself, of time, and also that resulting from the unnecessary occupation of the land during the valuable growing season, are chiefly due to the caprices of the weather, that is, rain showers. It is safe to say that these losses aggregate, in the United States alone, hundreds of millons of dollars each year. Statistics show that hay is highest in price'in just those sections where it grows most abundantly naturally, whereas it is lowest in price where itgrows but sparsely, naturally ;a situation due to the fact that the elements which assist growing grain crops are the same which interfere withcui'ing them, to-wit, a humid atmosphere and frequent rains. I also find that the price of hay has ruled for long periods at as high a figure per pound as grain. This fact demonstrates the uncertainty disappointments, and wastefulness which dominate the making of hay in the eastern half of the United States as at present conducted.

The art of artificially drying a great variety of materials is well known, but none of these known driers or processes is adapted to this work. They do not fit into the practice of handling such crops, they would be too expensive to deal with bulky material, they are not of a sufiicientlyportable character to be moved readily; in short, they aretoo complex and expensive for a number of reasons.

The practice of making hay from natural grasses over the most of this country is due mainly to the fact such grasses are fine in texture and comparatively easily dried. Crops such as wheat, oats, barley, millet, etc., make more in weight per acre and a better quality of hay than,natural grasses, but itis only where the climate permits of their being dried under natural conditions with reasonable certainty that such grains are used for hay,notably in California, Australia, South Africa, Texas, and other places with like climatic conditions. Again, under the practice obtaining almost universally at the present time, hay-making is crowded into a period of a few days, or, at most, a few weeks, in each yeara practice' obviously far more wasteful and less economical for a variety of reasons than would he the case could the hay-making period be extended substantially continuously and uninterruptedly over the spring. summer and fall months. It is also known that in the ordinary process of harvesting and curing hay a considerable loss of food values takes place, independently of loss resulting from partial or, complete spoiling by fermentation, mildew, or like causes, owing to the fact that the grass or grain is cut, and cured at a time when its maximum protein value has passed. It is a fact perhaps not generally known that, in the case of oats, in the stage of development known as in the milk the stalk contains nearly as much protein as the ,seed or grain, and this is true in nearly the same degree of the other grains; whereas, if cutting is delayed until the grain passes into the yellow stage, a large part of this protein in the stalk has disappeared. This should make apparent the desirability and advantage of harvesting the crop for hay purposes when it is in the milk. At this stage, however, the greater amount of moisture in the grain obviously makes the curing by natural methods more diflicult and uncertain, and hence the practice has continued of sacrificing a large proportion of the food value for the sake of more easily and certainly saving the residue of such food value. It should be plain, therefore, that if some practicable means can be found for quickly drying and curing grain that is freshly cut at a stage of its development when its food value is highest, a great saving and advantage to the growers and users of such crops should result.

My present invention, which embodies such a means for drying freshly cut crops, contemplates the drying and curing of the same by artificial means, and constitutes an improvement upon an apparatus designed to accomplish the same result, shown and described in an application for Letters Patent,

filed by me on the 10th day of February,

effect suc prevents any subsequent fermentation. I

1913. The apparatus disclosed in the saidapplication comprises anopen, circular platform of considerablediameter, and an annula r' superstructure forming a lateral container and seal for a stack of grass or grain stock of considerable height, and means for directing the drying agent in the form of heated air, free from smoke or like. gases into the space beneath said platform. Owing to irregularities in the density of the stack, and the tendency of the heatedair,

infollowing the path-of least'resistance, to escape between the seal and the stack, the drying; and curing efiect was not always guided atlits'outer end on a drum 19. Surreceiving end being mounted on a conveyer drum. 17, and the portion of the conveyor traveling through the mixing and equalizing chamber 14 being suitably supported and mounting the elevated portion of the conveyer is a hood or dome 2Q-conveniently made of sheet metal and open at-both ends,

the sides of which may be extended downuniform. 'I have since. discovered that betsuch a character that thedrying agent may be directed against and through acompare-f tively thin layer or mat of materiahespe- .ter' results are obtained by an apparatus of cially where such layer .or mat is moved 5 slowly edgewise across the path of the flow of ,thedr ing agent for a suflicient time to a drying and curing action, as

have also discoveredthat a moderate amount of. smoke in the drying agent is beneficial and seems to add palatability as well as introducing an antiseptic agent, and incidentally, asul furous atmosphere, desirable where vegetable matter is to be, dried and preserved.

In order that my invention maybe more clearly and fu-lly understood,'I have illustrated' in the accompanying drawings one I practical form of apparatus that I have found by actual operation, may be successfully employed in effecting the purposes of the invention, and referring thereto,.\

Fig. 3 is (anenlarged cross-section on the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal section on the ofi'- set line.44 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged 4 fragmentary horizontal section on the. line battery. .of furnaces disposed side" by side Figure 1. is aside elevation of the com plete apparatus;"Fig. '2 is a top plan view,

In the drawings 6 designates each of a and each comprising top, rear, and side fwalls 7, 8 and 18, respectively, of fire br1ck,'a front-*wall 9, a downwardlyand rearwardly inclined grateklO anda vertical 1 smoke fine 11. behind the rear wall 8. Extending alongside and in reari'of the several furnaces is a chamber 12 having thefunctions-of anair conductor and 'pres'sure equalizing chamber a nd supplied withair under' suitable pressure" delivered by a'fan.

13 connected into-one end of said chamingchamber 14, through the upper portion of which runs an endless slat conveyor 15' which, at one end,'is inclined downwardly. .to the ground, indicated at 16, its lower or r. Surmounting the row of furnacesand the air conductor is a mixing and equalizwardly to form the side walls. 21 of the mixing and equalizing chamber, the lowerends of said .side Walls resting upon the top-walls of the furnaces and of the air conductor and being sealed'thereon by angle irons 22.

.The conveyer 15 is conveniently formed of two lines of link belts or chains 15 connected by cross bars or slats-15, the ends of which'latter-are supported by angle rails 23 secured to the side walls 21 of'the mixing and equalizing chamber. This construction provides an open or skeleton conveyer that transverse partition walls 25 (Fig. 5),

thereby forming the fiuesll, and said flues are extendedupwardly some distance into the mixing and equalizing chamber by guide plates 26 and 27 Fig. 3) that form ineffect vertical extensions of the rear furnace wall and the inner air. conductorwall and extend between adjacent partition walls 24. Be-

'. veyer are also interposed partitions 24 sub-- ceive the dried hay tween the upper and lower laps of the constantially in line with the partitions 24.

The air conductor communicates lower ends" of the. several furnace flues with the through openings 28 "in the wall 12', ,the I air being directed upwardly by means. of

suitably shaped castings 29fastened to the 5 inner side of wall 12 over said openings.

Extending leng'thwisejof the. mixlng and equalizing chamber 14 centrally above the tops of the several flues 12 is a baflle. 30 of inverted V shape serving todeflect and d sperser the commingled air and gases flow- I 'ing' upwardly through the flues and prevent live sparks therein] from striking the, load of material on the conveyer.

At he delivery end 7 of the conveyer. is a hay-pressindicated at 31. arranged to re directly from the. conveyer'and bale the same. 1 a

.In-the use of the apparatus; shown'and described'the'material to be cured is cut and delivered ina green condition'to the foot ofthe conveyer bysuitable tools, and is spread upon'the latter in a layer of approximately U iform thickness and density, preferably in the conductor or equalizing chamber 12,

which is maintained at a constant pressure of about three-fourths of an ounce, rushes upwardly through the flues .11, inducing a powerful draft in the furnaces and commingling with the gases of combustion from the latter. The area of the air supply openings into the fiues 11 is such as to maintain the fan pressure at these openings, and the air, therefore, passes therefrom at a high velocity, approximately 4,000

feet per minute; this blast striking the baflie 30 and being dispersed thereby throughout the entire cross sectional area of the mixing and equalizing chamber. The quantity of air delivered bears such proportion to the gases of combustion that the resulting mixture of air and furnace gases has a temperature ofabout 400 degrees F.,

and is in such quantities as .to furnish a flow upward through the hay on the conveyer of about 150 feet per minute; that is, 150 cu. ft. of hot air flows through each square foot of" area in the traveling mat of hay each minute. Under these conditions I find that in passing through the hay the temperature will fall from 400 degrees F.

to 150 degrees F., at which last named temperature the air is almost completely saturated. Under these'conditions by subjecting any given portion of the material to the drying treatment for a period under 15 minutes, I find that such material is thoroughly dried and cured. The partitions or diaphragms 24 and 24' serve the purpose of controlling the upward movement of the heated air and gases in the mixing and equalizing. chamber so as to distribute the same throughout the full length of'the latter, so that'in great measure the hay will receive uniform quantities of the drying agent throughout its entire travel through the drying chamber.

The type of furnace shown and described is excellently adapted to the purposes of the present invention, since it burns the fuel very thoroughly and gives off but little smoke.- In the handling of the furnace green coal is added from time to time at the receiving end of the grate, where a seal is maintained, the whole fire being pushed down over the grate from time .to time, and the ashes may be removed from beneath the lower end of the grate by opening an ash door, 32 and "raking the ashes out. The

amount of smoke commingling with the air and passing through the hay is so small as to cause little or no perceptible smell or discoloration. The continuous upward flow of air through the fiues induces a draft through the grate bars and fire sufficiently strong to heat the inclosing fire brick to a white heat,

a condition very favorable for minimizing creased correspondingly. If the rate of flow be diminished, then the rate of combustion is diminished. In this manner there is automatically maintained within reasonable limits a certain desiredecon'omical and safe temperature underneath the traveling mat of hay, which hasbeen stated as about 400 degrees F.- The volume of this flow of air heated bv admixture with the furnace gases is limited by the fact that if it be too great, the material to be dried will be displaced or blown away. Upon its quantity-and temperature will, therefore, depend the capacity of the apparatus. The vertical height of the fuel 11 willfix the intensity of the .induced draft through the grate-bars and fire. Therefore, by increasing or diminishing this distance a higher or a lower temperature grees F. applied for something less than a quarter of an hour, sufficiently long a period to completely dry. the orop,will do no harm; whereas, a prolonged exposure of the same material to as low a temperature as 300 degrees F. will ignite and destroy it. It may further be observed that in the described construction little Waste of heat by radiation takes place. On the firing side the draft is, of'course, inward; and the air conductor prevents radiation on the opposite side. Above the tops of the flues the temperature is so reduced and the exterior surface so small in area that waste from radiation is-trivial.

By my improved apparatus it is possible to perfectly dry out and cure green-freshly out grass7and grain in from fifteen to twenty minutes, as compared with a period of several days under favorable weather conditions required under the natural process of curing.

The utilization of the gases of combustion directly as part of the drying agent contributes substantially to the economy of the apparatus, without eifecting any deterioration of the product, but rather an advantage, as I'have found that the very'slight smoky flavor sometimes imparted to the product is not at all objectionable to cattle ately after curing, a further throughout the entire growing season, irrespective of weather conditions, enables the crop to be harvested and cured at the stage of its development when it is highest in food values, and entirely eliminates the present enormous waste and loss resulting from bad weatherconditions during the harvest season.

The'process of treatment herein described is notclaimedherein, but forms the sub ject-matter of a companion application filed concurrently I claim: 1. In an apparatus for curing freshly made crops, the combination of a conveyer, a furnace having" a smoke fllie discharging beneath said conveyer, and means forsup plying air under pressure to, and directing the same upwardly Within, said flue.

2. In an apparatus for curing freshly made crops, the combination of a conveyer, a furnace having" a smoke flue discharging beneath said conveyer, a bafile over said flue, and means for supplying air under pressure to, and directing the same upwardly within, said flue.

3'. In an apparatus for curing freshly made crops, the combination of a furnace,

herewith, Serial No. 868,504.

an air conductor in rearof said furnace, at

\ mixing and equalizing chamber above said furnace, a conveyer extending through'the upper part of said mixing and equalizing chamber,

furnace nto said mlxing and equallzing a smoke flueextending from said chamber, and communicating with said air conductor, and means for supplying air under 'pressure'to said air conductor. 1 v

4; In an apparatus for curing freshly made crops, the combination of a furnace,- an air conductor in rear' of said furnace, a mixing and equalizing chamber, above said furnace, a conveyer extending through the upper part of said mixing and equalizing chamber, a smoke flue extending from said furnace into said mixing and equalizing chamber and c'ommunicatingat its lower end with said air conductor, a baflie over said fluefand means for supplying air under. pressure to said air conductor.

5. In an apparatus for curing freshly made cr0ps,the combination of-a furnace',,.

an air conductor in rear of said furnace, a

. mixing and equalizing chamber above said furnace, a conveyer extending through-the upper part of said vmixing and equalizingchamber, a smoke flue extending from said crops, in combination, av battery of furnaces set side by side a mixing and equalizing chamber above and extending lengthwise of' said battery of furnaces and divided by transverse partitions into a plurality of independent sections, a slat conveyer extending lengthwiseof said mixing and equalizflues leading upwardly from the rear of the respective furnaces into the sections of said mixing and equalizing chamber, an air'conductor extending alongside and communicating with said smoke flues in rear of said furnaces, means for supplying air under pressure to said air conductor, and a baflie extending lengthwise of said mixing and equalizing chamber above the. upper ends ofsaid flues.

7. In an apparatus for curing freshly cut upper end, an ainconductor communicating withsaid flue, a'conveyerfor'the; material to be dried, extending through said mixing and equalizing chamber above said flue, and means for creating an upward flow of air and gases OfCOInbllStlOIl through said flue.

8. In an apparatusfor curing freshly cut crops, in' combination, a furnace having a downwardly and rearwardly inclinedfiregrate, an air conductorin rear of said furnace, means for'supplying air under pressure to said air conductor, a. mixing and equalizing chamber above said furnace and air conductor, a'flue communicating at-its lower end with the rear of said furnace, and also withsaid air conductor, and extending upwardly into said mixing and-equalizinga ing chamber above said partitions, smoke chamber, a conveyer for the Inaterial'to be dried, extending through said mixing 'nd equalizing chamber, and a baflle between he lower side 9. In an apparatus for curing freshly cut crops, in comblnati on, a furnacehav n I of said conveyer and the to greencoal, anairconductor in rear of said furnace, -means for [supplying air under pressure to said air conductor, a mixing and equallzlng chamber above said furnace and air conductor, a flue commnnicating at its equalizing ehamher, and a bafile between the lower end with the rear of said furnace adlower side of said eonveyer and the top of jacent to the lower end of said fire-grate and said flue.

also with said air conductor and extending ARTHUR J. MASON; 5 upwardly into said mixing and equalizing Witnesses:

chamber, a conveyer for the material to be S. N. Pom),

dried extending through said mixing ancl A. G. Lama. 

